Bar lifts, scores fall

Educators urge calm in light of 31% pass rate for state tests

Updated 3:20 pm, Thursday, August 8, 2013

Exams are taken at a local school district. Supporters of a new state teacher evaluation system is meant for accountability, but it worries many teachers. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Exams are taken at a local school district. Supporters of a new state teacher evaluation system is meant for accountability, but it worries many teachers. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Photo: Will Waldron

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The state now considers less than a third of the students in third through eighth grade proficient in math and English, according to standardized test results released Wednesday. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

The state now considers less than a third of the students in third through eighth grade proficient in math and English, according to standardized test results released Wednesday. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Photo: Paul Buckowski

Image 3 of 4

The state now considers less than a third of the students in third through eighth grade proficient in math and English, according to standardized test results released Wednesday. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union arhcive) less

The state now considers less than a third of the students in third through eighth grade proficient in math and English, according to standardized test results released Wednesday. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union ... more

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Image 4 of 4

The state now considers less than a third of the students in third through eighth grade proficient in math and English, according to standardized test results released Wednesday. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

The state now considers less than a third of the students in third through eighth grade proficient in math and English, according to standardized test results released Wednesday. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Bar lifts, scores fall

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Albany

The state now considers less than a third of New York's students in third through eighth grade proficient in math and English, according to standardized test results released Wednesday.

Statewide both the math and English language arts tests had a pass rate of 31 percent. Last year, the number was 55 percent in ELA and 65 percent in math. Still, state officials and other prominent education advocates joined together to assure teachers, parents and students that the scores didn't mean they had failed, but rather the bar had lifted. In a few weeks, parents will find out how their children scored and almost three quarters will learn they failed the math or English tests given in the spring.

State Education Commissioner John King said the scores don't reflect a decrease in performance, and should not be used to attack educators. No new schools will be added to state watch lists for poor performance as a result of the new scores since the results can't be reliably compared to past years, he said. King said the scores are instead the first step in a significant change and the most accurate tool to gauge the readiness of New York's students for life after graduation.

"We as a state and as a country have been reluctant to acknowledge where we are in terms of college and career readiness," he said Wednesday.

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These are the schools and grades where every student failed a math or English test.

On Wednesday, administrators at most area districts did not crunch the overall results for parents and did not send letters reassuring them that the scores did not reflect on classroom quality. One notable exception was Albany, where 18 percent of students passed English tests and 14 percent passed math. In a letter to parents, Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard sought to calm anxious parents and explain that the district would be better equipped to help students next year.

"Please be assured – and know that we recognize – that the results you are reading and hearing about do not reflect your child's capabilities or progress," she wrote in a letter posted to the district website. "We know the stress that your children were under last school year striving to do their best under a new and largely unfamiliar system."

Student scores on standardized tests were widely expected to drop under new Common Core standards, a more rigorous set of national curriculum standards. New York was one of the first states to test students under the tough new standards, which have been adopted by 45 states. State officials have been warning for months that the scores would drop precipitously and included many quotes from education experts defending the Common Core as the most valid benchmark for measuring student learning.

King offered little consolation for the large new crop of parents who will soon have to seek remedial help for their children, other than to repeat that students didn't fail, the "baseline" moved. He urged parents to be in touch with teachers, and to focus on exposing children to reading, cultural opportunities that reinforced literacy and to be diligent about homework.

Still, the new results reflect a bleak education landscape for some students. Among black students statewide, 16 percent are considered proficient, and for Hispanic students, 18 percent, the new numbers show. Among those for whom English is not their first language, called English Language Learners, the numbers are even worse, just 3.2 percent are proficient in English and 9.8 percent in math. The state's charter schools, often touted as a superior public education option fared worse than traditional schools, with 23 percent considered proficient in ELA and 31 percent in math. In the state's wealthiest districts, 51 percent of students passed math tests, compared to just nine percent in the large, urban districts that have high concentrations of students living in poverty.

Some public education advocates have pushed back against the new tests, claiming educators are so focused on them that schools have turned into testing sites. Teachers are evaluated on the test scores of students, and can be fired if the children in their classroom do not perform well. Thousands of students sat out the tests statewide this year, as parents and educators protested the rush to test on Common Core standards. The New York State United Teachers union, attacked the way the tests were rolled out and said teachers did not receive all the materials they needed to prepare students.

Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch addressed such criticism directly, saying tougher standards meant the state was looking to de-emphasize test preparation to focus on better curriculum and instruction. She said it's better to push students now than after graduation.

"The world has changed, the economy has changed, and what our students need to know has changed," she said in a statement. "These scores reflect a new baseline and a new beginning."

On the day before the exam scores were released, even U.S. Education Secretary of Education Arne Duncan jumped to defend the low scores as part of a necessary and painful process of being honest with families.

"Too many school systems lied to children, families and communities," he said. "Finally, we are holding ourselves accountable."

In some of the state's largest districts, only a tiny percentage of students are considered proficient. On the reading exams, 5.4 percent of Rochester students passed, 8.7 percent of Syracuse students passed and 11.5 percent of Buffalo students passed, according to state data. In New York City, 27 percent passed English and 30 percent passed math. Those five are the only districts for which the state Education Department provided immediate overall numbers.

Education groups defended the rigor of the new tests.

"It is important to recognize that student achievement did not go down," said Timothy Kremer, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association. "Instead, standards went up."